ecosystem stability

resistence

abilty of sytem to absorb small distrubances and resit them cuasing larege disturbances/change

reslilence

ability of system to return to og state after disturbance

robustness

amount of disturbance a system can tolderate before switching to another state

response

magnitude of change

recovery

extent of return to og state

grassland state charcterstics

• frequent fire

• hot/dry weather

forest state charcterstics

fire supression

cool/dry weather

effects of biodiversity loss

• reduce stability

  • decrease resistance/resilience = STABILITY LOST

• less stable Ecos may not be able to respond to normal/smaller disturbances,

  • damaging ecosystem structure/function

scales of response- species

• respond to environmental change in ways that help them remain in homostatis

  • body temp regulating

scales of response- populations

respond in ways that refelct sucess or failure of members of pop to survive and reproduce

• more fit indvls will survive natural section of the disturbance

scales of response - communites

respond in ways that reflect responses of species/pops

• pops of predators change in response to prey pops changing

steepness- stablity

speed which ball returns to homeostatis

relseicne- width

energy system can absorb without leaving current cup

range of natural variablty

range of possible locations of the ball withing the cup

managment goal of natural variabilty

stay withing cup and keep cup as wide as possible